From Times Online: A Qatari state investment fund is preparing to make an investment in Porsche, the German carmaker, says a German magazine.

According to Focus, a German weekly, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the Emir of the gas-rich Gulf state, has given a verbal commitment to Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche’s chief executive, that he will take a stake via the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA)…….Full Article: Source

From Theonlinecitizen.com: The latest revelation by Reuters that Temasek has off-loaded its stakes in Barclays Bank, resulting in an estimated loss of more than a billion dollars, is worrying. This comes on the heels of Temasek shedding its shares in the Bank of America in May.
What is of more concern is that these losses were not revealed by Temasek or the government but by foreign news agencies and securities filing in the United States…….Full Article: Source

From Straitstimes.com: Uncertainity may have been one of the reasons behind Temasek Holdings’ decision to sell off its stake in British bank Barclays in December and January despite the huge loss it would make, fund managers said on Thursday.

Reacting to reports that the state investment agency had offloaded its entire 2 per cent stake at an estimated loss of 500 million pounds to 600 million pounds (S$1.2 billion to S$1.4 billion), they said Temasek could have been concerned that Barclays would be nationalised by the British government…….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: Singapore state investor Temasek sold its stake in British bank Barclays several months ago at a big loss, sources said yesterday.

After spending over £1 billion (Dh6.23bn) on shares in Britain’s second-biggest bank in the last two years, unlisted Temasek may have lost more than £800 million on the investment, according to calculations by Reuters…….Full Article: Source

From Theonlinecitizen.com: The tide of Temasek-related bad news seems almost interminable.

Weeks after reports that the government’s main holding company had to endure a huge write-down after selling its stake in Bank of America, an article in Reuters surfaced on 3rd June 2009 saying that Temasek may have suffered another sizeable loss on its stake in British bank Barclays, which it supposedly sold off at the beginning of this year…….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: Barclays Plc’s biggest shareholder, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, said it remains “supportive” of the UK’s third biggest bank, a day after investors from Abu Dhabi sold a stake.

Qatar Holding, a unit of Qatar Investment Authority, “regards Barclays as a valued commercial and strategic partner, particularly in the Middle East markets, and expects to build on this fruitful relationship over the long term,” said a spokesman for the state-owned fund in an e-mailed statement…….Full Article: Source

From Telegraph: The Qatar Investment Authority and Adia, the government investment arm of Abu Dhabi, are leading talks alongside Kuwait’s KIO, which would see the oil-rich states inject $3bn in return for a 12pc stake.

Barclays, the UK’s second-biggest bank, will on Monday confirm it is close to the $13bn (£8.1bn) sale of its fund management arm to American financial group BlackRock – the biggest ever such deal and a move that will trigger a potential $585m windfall for employees…….Full Article: Source

From Xinhua: When the second biggest British bank Barclays announced last October it would sell up to 32 percent ownership to Middle Eastern investors for 7 billion pounds in cash, nobody expected a “win-win” outcome.

However, as Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) sold part of its Barclays stake this week, the bank avoided being bailed out, and partly owned by the British government, while Abu Dhabi and other Barclays shareholders benefited from the recent rally in the stock market…….Full Article: Source

From U.tv: The rapid growth in the wealth, power and influence of states such as Qatar and nearby Abu Dhabi may have been jolted by the crunch, but they can still move world stock markets.

The sale by Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi of a chunk of Barclays shares last week destabilised the bank, sent the FTSE reeling, and set off a torrent of speculation about whether the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which also holds a hefty slice of Barclays, would follow suit…….Full Article: Source

From Saudigazette.com.sa: General Electric and Mubadala Development Company signed recently commercial finance joint venture agreement and establishment of a regional training center for next-generation business leaders, demonstrating significant progress on key aspects of a broader strategic partnership forged by the companies last year.
“The global financial services business proposed under today’s agreement combines Mubadala’s regional investment expertise with GE’s global origination excellence in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets,” GE Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt said…….Full Article: Source

From Theeastafrican.co.ke: The Tanzanian National Social Security Fund is in the spotlight yet again for selling its property irregularly — this time to a firm which was registered three weeks before the tender was floated.
A report obtained by The East-African indicates that the property, apartments at Ada estate in the posh areas of Kinondoni district in Dar es Salaam were sold under a dubious contract…….Full Article: Source

From Neurope.eu: Kairat Kelimbetov, the Chairman of the Board of Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund, a state holding company established in October 2008 discussed the effects of the economic crisis on Kazakhstan’s oil-dependent economy.
By an optimistic forecast, the current crisis should end at the end of this year, and by a pessimistic forecast, at the end of next year…….Full Article: Source

From Xinhua: The China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, announced Tuesday that it decided to buy 1.2 billion U.S. dollar common stocks in Morgan Stanley’s 2.2-billion-U.S.-dollar common stock offering.

Morgan Stanley announced Tuesday it had priced a public offering of common equity of 2.2 billion U.S. dollars. The proceeds are intended to fully redeem the preferred capital of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) before the end of June…….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: China will buy as much as $50 billion in bonds issued by the International Monetary Fund, which needs more cash to lend to countries hit by the global financial crisis, a senior IMF official said on Friday.

“The Chinese authorities have indicated that … (they) would be interested in investing up to $50 billion in these bonds when they are ready and we hope that other countries will follow suit,” John Lipsky, the IMF’s first deputy managing director, said in an interview with Reuters Television…….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Russia, entrenched in economic woes, is positioning itself as a firm trading partner with Arab nations who are keen to rekindle their Soviet-era alliance, government officials said on Thursday.

Trade between the Arab world and Russia currently totals $8 billion a year — a figure dwarfed by that of Russia’s heavyweight partner, the European Union, amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars — but Russia hopes a wave of new investments will cement trade for years to come…….Full Article: Source

From Manilastandardtoday.com: The gross international reserves of the Bangko Sentral rose to a record high of $39.319 billion at the end of May, the central bank said yesterday.

The central bank said in a statement the end-May reserves were slightly higher than $39.316 billion at the end of April and enough to pay for over six months worth of the country’s imports and more than thrice its maturing short-term debt…….Full Article: Source

From Expressbuzz.com: Recently China’s Central Bank chief argued for introduction of a global reserve currency in place of US dollar as the reserve currency.

His argument was that the recent crisis was generated by excess liquidity linked to the dollar. The status of dollar as reserve currency allowed the US to carry deficits that were financed by the big exporting countries…….Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: The International Monetary Fund said it’s possible to take the “revolutionary” step of creating a new global reserve currency to replace the dollar over time.

The IMF’s so-called special drawing rights could be used as the basis for a new currency, First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky told a panel discussing reserve currencies at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum today…….Full Article: Source